Monday, September 26, 2005

Surfs Up

On Saturday we had our first annual company outing. The event was in Malibu at the Malibu Makos surfing school. The entire family went out and we had a good time, eventhough it was overcast.

Darian and I suited up, my first wetsuit experience :-(, found a surf instructor and headed into the Pacific. The water was extremely cold. I figured it was in the mid 60s but later heard someone over the PA state that it was a chilling 59 degrees. As you walked into the water your feet numbed, and then when the first wave hit your body it knocked the wind out of you. Or at least it did for me. The surf guy told me dive into the water, get used to it before you try to surf. That helped a little bit but it still was extremely cold, even with the wetsuit.

I think I ended up trying for about 30 minutes. I was able to ride a wave in fairly easily if I stayed on my knees. Hopping up to a standing position never happened for me. I did get up on one leg with one knee down a couple of times.

Darian was doing a little better than me. She didn't tire as quickly and nearly got up several times. She attempted about 30 minutes like me, and then went back out a couple of hours later for another 30-45 minutes.

Who would have thought as little as a couple of months back that we we would have been surfing in Malibu...

It was a good thing it was overcast because Jacki got fairly burnt on her neck, the only area exposed, and my farmers tan turned into a tank top tan with slightly reddened arms. I still tan fairly easily but I've got a long way to go before I'm as dark as I was a child.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

A Motley weekend


Last weekend definitely didn't work out as planned. Jacki, Darian and I had plans to fly back to Atlanta so Darian and I could see Motley Crue. I had purchased the platinum experience that entitled us to some nice extras (tour program, guitar picks, VIP room access) and some once in a lifetime pieces (meet and greet the band, photo with the band). Almost identical to the KISS experience I did a few years back.

Needless to say Darian and I were excited, especially after sitting on these tickets for over 6 months. We recently moved to LA and even made a special trip back to Atlanta to see the Crue. Of course we saw friends in Atlanta but the Crue was the primary driver for this trip.


The day started as planned. Wake up at an ungodly hour to catch a 6am flight to Atlanta. We got up, made the flight and arrived in Atlanta. Since I brought my Stick To Your Guns / Toast of the Town 45 and the new cd for autographs we decided to go to Best Buy and let Darian get something she could also get signed. She ended up going for the new cd as well.

Then about 2pm at lunch we get a call from Fanfire. They called to tell us the meet and greet was off. No explanation and all they offered was refunding the platinum package, and not even refund of the tickets. I was pissed but what could you do. We tried to call a couple of other people at Fanfire and they ignored our calls. I did get hold of the lady we were supposed to call in an emergency situation and she could have cared less that I had flown 2500 miles to see the but the ticket. The consolation prize, an autographed pic of the band.

We were told our tickets would be at will call so Darian and I left for the venue. Since we knew which hotel they were staying at we did a drive by. A small number of fans were outside so we decided to hang around to try to get an autograph. Normally I wouldn't do this but since the meet and greet was cancelled without explanation I figured why not.

First out was Nikki. He came out with his family and as a result didn't acknowledge the crowd. Next out was Vince and his wife. He had to walk through the crowd and it looked like he was going to just breeze by, but as he got to the first person he held out his hand, waited for a marker and then began to sign everyone's items. I finally got signature number 2 on the 45 (the first was from Tommy back in '86). He didn't talk but the crowd thought he was very cool for stopping and signing considering Nikki didn't even look at us.

Next out was Mick. He looked so frail. It took the crowds breath away seeing him walked slouched over to his bus. Crowd was very respectful and didn't walk over to him. As he got on the bus the security guy waved for us to come over and Mick signed for only one person and then went onto the bus.

We had a Tommy sighting but he quickly darted from the cab into the hotel avoiding the crowd altogther. For a fan friendly band I was extremely disappointed. Considering the meet and greet was cancelled they could have spent 2-3 minutes signing for the 10 people in front of the hotel.

After the minor disappointment we headed to the venue. Went by will call and discovered the promised guitar picks were not present, nor was the autographed photo. Made a couple of phone calls to fanfire and did not receive any response, just endless voice mail boxes.

Got inside the venue and at least our seats were good. We had 2nd row center with the elusive Ticketmaster 1x on the ticket. Darian and I noticed that the stage set up was for the Crue and had no gear for the opening bands. Sure enough The Exies, and Sum 41, 2 bands Darian really wanted to see had been removed from the tour. Just another in a day full of disappointments.

We ended up talking to other platinum ticket holders, and found out some of them weren't even notified about the cancelled meet and greet. They found out at the venue. And many of them had driven long distances to come to the show. A couple of groups we had talked to had driven 6 hours plus. The explanation they were provided was a scheduling conflict. This wouldn't be a problem if Darian and I hadn't seen all the guys at the hotel an hour before. They were all at the venue by 5:30 in plenty of time for a meet and greet.

The next minor disappointment was the show started 40 minutes late. Very small in the grand scheme of things.

The show finally started and other than a rough Too Fast For Love where Vince's vocals weren't in sync with the song the band sounded great.

Shout at the Devil
Too Fast For Love
Ten Seconds to Love
Red Hot (Nikki threatened to play a country song at this point)
On With The Show
Looks that Kill
Louder than Hell
Live Wire ....

And then during Live Wire Vince tore a muscle in his leg. Darian saw it happened and I saw him stumble off the stage. The band were still in the first verse of the song and played the song out as an instrumental. By the time they got to the end breaks you could tell the band didn't know what was going on. At this point Darian told me, she didn't think he was coming back.

The curtain then dropped and an announcement came on saying there would be a 10 minute intermission.

An hour later Tommy, Nikki, and Mick came out and announced Vince ripped a muscle and the show was cancelled.

End of show. 2500 miles, no meet and greet, no opening bands, missing platinum items, delayed show, and a 35 minute concert.

All I can say is the rest of my weekend was much better.

Photos taken with a Treo 650.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

We're not in Kansas anymore

Well I just was, I'm in Missouri now. Here for a business meeting tomorrow morning. Living in Atlanta I became spoiled by doing day trips to most of the US. I could fly in early morning, get to a destination before business hours and catch the last flight of the day back to Atlanta. In Los Angeles you can't get there in time so you have to fly out the night before.

A little scare with my baggage tonight. The plane was packed so by the time I boarded, I'm one of the last since its Southwest and the board by the time you arrive, they made me gate check my luggage. They claimed there was no room, although when I walked back and found a seat there was plenty of luggage room. I got to the baggage claim and the sent the last bag out notice and there was no sign of my bag. Fortunately I was able to get someone in service to call the plane before they left and they found my bag.

Nothing like some drama on a business trip.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

My new TV

After living without the Runco projector in Atlanta I decided to make the plunge and upgrade our TV as we moved to Santa Monica. I purchased a Samsung HL-R5688W. After doing a little research on Cnet's shopper site and checking out a few of the HDTVs in stores around LA I decided on this model.

It is one of the first DLP sets to display the full 1080i HD resolution. I'm watching progressive DVD displayed for the first time and the picture is amazing. The HD Tivo and my high end SACD/DVD player are finally getting used to its full extent. I can't wait to try out the HD adapter I purchased for the Xbox a couple of years ago.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

My Dad

Can you believe it. He checks out of the hospital on Saturday and he is already back at work.

Monday, September 05, 2005

A few days in...

We have mostly gotten the house in order now. We had our first Ikea experience. I was a bit overwhelmed. So many people and then Darian got sick. The best part was the cinnamon rolls. We ended up leaving with a bookcase for my cds, a couple of cabinets for the bathrooms, a wardrobe, and a desk for Darian that will fit in her room.

The weekend has been spent emptying boxes, probably only 10 left, and building furniture.

The bad news for the week is I found out my dad had a minor heart attack. Although there isn't really such thing as a "minor heartattack". I'll give him a call tomorrow to see how he's doing. He was supposed to get out of the hospital last night. Came as a surprise considering he went through a bypass about 3 years ago and had been given an excellent bill of health ever since.

I'll probably go to Houston to see him mid September.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Dave Matthews Band

We saw Dave Matthews Band a week ago. This was our first concert in the Los Angeles area after relocating from Atlanta.

Saturday Aug 27 2005
Home Depot Center

Everyday
Don’t Drink the Water

American Baby Intro

Dream Girl

Grey Street

Hunger For The Great Light

Say Goodbye

Bartender

American Baby

Out Of My Hands

Smooth Rider

Dancing Nancies

Granny

Too Much

Louisiana Bayou
*
__________________

Best of Whats Around

Two Step



Show Notes:
* Robert Randolph

Friday, September 02, 2005

Back online

The Dave Blog is back online again. Turns out Verizon won't let me host my own server on their residential DSL so I'm using imagelinkusa to host my home domain once again.

I'll get the apps back online soon but at least the blog entries are back online.

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